DECLUTTER YOUR HOME AND GET ORGANIZED

Preparing for building your new home is a great time to de-clutter and get organized! Depending on how long you have lived within your current home you may have a few boxes of unnecessary items or rooms full of items you no longer need and certainly don’t want to relocate into your new home. Think about your new home and what new spaces you will have to fill, maybe you are adding a work space in your garage or a craft studio or home office. As you look around your home, start with the room that seems most unapproachable. Trash bags and boxes are always good sorters for large items or soft goods like clothing, shoes or stuffed animals.

To get started, find several boxes, plastic tubs and trash bags.

Set up the boxes side by side and label them on the outside – keep / go through / donate

As you pick up items within the room, decide which box to put it in – and then stick it there. Once you have all of the items sorted into these categories, you can break it down further and continue to organize. The donation boxes will be easy – just find a good charity, like goodwill, salvation army or other local charities that may be able to reuse or resell these items to help their mission. Remember when you donate items, you are eligible for a tax donation receipt, make sure to get it.

As you move forward on organizing the “keep” items, find some small clear tubs or other baskets or useful items to organize items further. Go through this box and find like items and house them together in these useful storage bins. Make sure to label the boxes once you have completed, making it easier to find markers, buttons, tools, or other items you are holding onto. Placing these items within areas they will be used will also help with the organization of your home. If you have tools, cleaning supplies, sponges, nails, etc. you may keep these within your garage. If you have craft and art supplies you may keep these within your craft room or laundry room. If you have a coat closet that doesn’t get much use, you can convert this into a storage area by adding shelves. Once you have this completed, you can store these useful small clear plastic, labeled totes to keep all of your items in one place, making finding what you are looking for much easier.

A “go through” box is a mixture of items you aren’t sure you are ready to part with, or items you just aren’t sure what to do with – they may take a little more thought on how to organize. You can save this box for last, and as you go through it, you may find you will have some items you decide to keep, which can be added to your already organized items. You will also find a few more items you decide to donate, and these can be added to this group. In the end, you will be left with an organized area, and possibly find more space to use within your home, while feeling good about being clutter free! If you have tips, please feel free to share those in the comments below.

As you manage the organization of your home, you may find you could really use a craft room within your new home, or customized garage shelving to keep all of your tools, gardening supplies or basketballs, tennis rackets and frisbees!

For more information about this topic and how it applies to your new custom home contact us at AmericasHomePlace.com